Chapter 9 - The Distracting Duke

“I don’t see anyone up here. Are you sure you heard a shout come from this direction, your Grace?” A deep voice came from the otherside of the door. Syra felt her heart in her throat.

“I must have been mistaken. I apologize for summoning guards for nothing, I shall follow you down.” Syra recognized Duke Eclipse’s voice and was angry with herself for shouting earlier.

“As you wish, your Grace.” A higher voice echoed slightly from within the tower and two sets of footsteps began down the tower steps.

“Be cautious. I will guide the guards at the bottom of the tower away, but you must return without being seen, your Highness.” Eclipse whispered out onto the balcony before closing the door and descending the tower himself. 

Icar stepped back and their hand went to their wing. Syra tentatively reached out and began to examine their wing.

“Can you fly like this?” Syra whispered as guilt hit her.

“I think I can if I rest for a while. I heal quickly, but wings are fragile.” Icar winced again and looked down towards Syra with wide pleading eyes.

“Stay in the tower, just try to not get caught. I must go. I will try to bring you some food later.” As she turned to leave Icar reached out and caught her wrist.

“Be safe, if you run into trouble, just blame the evil harpy in the tower.” Icar looked worried, but laughed a bit.

“I may even need to blame your evil seduction magic!” Syra giggled before slowly opening the door.

Syra took another look at Icar as she snuck through the tower door, their one wing was slightly lower than the other. They had a worried look on their face as they waved goodbye. Syra snuck down the stairs and when she reached the bottom, she tried to use her power to guide her, but could not calm down enough to use it. She heaved a sigh before cracking open the door. 

She saw no one and began sneaking down the hallways. She peaked around a corner and saw a maid carrying a laundry basket heading towards her. She stayed there hoping the maid would pass her by when she felt a hand pull her back and another cover her mouth. 

She kicked as she was dragged backwards into a nearby room. When the hands released her she turned around ready to fight to find the Duke in front of her with his hands raised.

“Sorry for being rough, I was trying to stop us both from being caught sneaking around the castle.” Duke Eclipse stepped back as he lowered his hands.

“I thought I was about to have to fight for my life.” Syra raised a hand to her chest and felt her pounding heart.

“I was trying to prevent another scandal, your Highness. A few times I intervened for you now. Why were you in the tower so early in the morning? The sun has yet to rise.” Eclipse came closer and looked intently at Syra’s face as she felt her face heat from his intense gaze.

“I… simply wanted some time alone. I could not sleep after the events at the ball. The tower is quiet.” Syra looked away and felt her face get hotter under his continued gaze.

“Do you often shout alone in towers, your highness?” Eclipse raised a single dark eyebrow drawing Syra’s eyes to his purple eyes that glowed with power.

“Do you not sometimes act out your frustrations when you are alone, your Grace?” Syra tilted her head up and looked down her nose to try to regain some of her royal composure, the Duke simply chuckled with his deep rumbling voice.

“I do, but I must say I have yet to try to shout in an empty tower. Maybe next time I am vexed, I should try it.” Eclipse half smiled at her as he chuckled again. Syra felt her heart rate raise with the corner of his mouth.

“I would recommend it, but you might want to be careful. Someone might call the guards on you for daring to do so.” Syra raised her own eyebrow and crossed her arms as she glared accusingly as she ignored the thrumming of her heart.

“I will admit it was wrong to call the guards, but all I knew was that I heard a woman shout. That seemed a situation that could require guards, or should I refrain from doing so in the future, your Highness?” 

The Duke mimicked her crossed arms, but then leaned to the side to look her in the eyes for his question to lower the height difference.

“I…I can see from your perspective it seemed a situation that could require guards. Therefore I shall not fault you for causing my predicament in the first place,” The Duke looked at her expectantly, Syra’s face flushed again, “And I thank you for assisting me to avoid being caught in scandal.” Syra looked away.

“I simply want to help you, your Highness. You have been placed into a difficult position, in part due to my cousin. It is only right that I help fix his mistakes. I will remove any unpleasant rumors about you, your Highness. I also wish to help you out of your predicament.” The Duke’s sudden softness to his voice caught Syra’s attention and she saw a gentleness to his eyes that surprised her.

“I would appreciate help. Could you possibly cause a distraction in another direction so I can try to get back to my room before I am caught?” Syra looked into his eyes as she asked for his help and nearly got lost in the purple glow that seemed to swirl.

“Of course,” he chuckled in his rumbling voice, “but I also mean your predicament with my cousin and uncle.” His eyes glowed slightly brighter at the mention of his cousin.

“Wait, do you mean my engagement?” Syra gasped in surprise and took a step back, backing into a table nearby.

The Duke leapt forward to catch the vase and ended up catching the table by pining Syra against it. The flowers spilled to the floor with the water in the vase. Both panted as they both processed what had just occurred. 

Syra looked up into the Duke’s face as he blushed and looked away. He held the table as she stepped back and he placed the vase back onto the table. Syra could see his ears were still red even as he faced away from her.

“Thank you for catching me, your Grace.” Syra leaned forward and placed a hand beside his on the table.

“Of course, your Highness. I could never allow you to come to harm, even by a simple accident.” Eclipse looked at her with his beautiful eyes as he moved his hand atop hers, “Which way should I lead the distraction?” The sudden question caught her off guard and made Syra pause for a moment.

“Oh, right, um, my room is down this hallway, up the stairs, and then straight down the hallway to the right.” Syra pointed and explained as a smirk grew on Eclipse’s face, “What is so funny, your Grace?” She felt her face heat as she saw the mirthful look on his face.

“I asked which way to lead the distraction,” he drew the distance between them in a single stride and looked down into her eyes, “not for directions to your bedroom, your Highness.”

“Oh… Right.” Syra blushed deeply, “Please lead them that way or that way.” She pointed while looking away.

“As you command your highness.” Duke Eclipse took her hand and kissed it, before looking up at her with those eyes of his.

Before Syra could catch her breath, Eclipse walked out the door. After a moment to catch her breath from the look in his eyes, Syra heard some chaos and running feet. She peeked out the door before running towards her room. As she reached her door and collapsed against it she opened her eyes after panting for a moment to see a confused Hestia and Lia.

“Where have you been, your Highness? I came to check on you after hearing some odd sounds and found only Duchess Ophelia here.” Hestia, like many aquatic people, could see well in dark environments and looked worriedly at the Princess.

“I went and visited a friend. I am sure Lia will not spread gossip about me.” Syra straightened her back and walked across the room to take off the dressing gown.

“Oh, Oceania! You summoned the beautiful winged being!” Lia nearly squealed before being hushed by both Syra and Hestia.

“You must be quiet or you will bring trouble to this room, Lia.” Syra urged as she pulled Lia’s hand so they sat on the bed together. Syra tried to ignore how tired she was and fought the urge to lay down.

“I doubt I will be the one causing trouble since it seems you have the ability to bring it here all by yourself.” Lia complained next to her.

“Will you stop pouting if I tell you what happened?” Syra peeked over and saw her niece light up with excitement and sighed, “I did summon Icar, we talked for a while…” 

“You were gone almost all night, your Highness.” Hestia snorted while standing at the end of the bed.

“We found out we do have a lot in common, we talked about some of the struggles we both have. Suddenly, we heard footsteps coming up the tower. They pushed me against the wall and shielded me with their body so we would not be found. They could have easily flown away instead of hiding with me, but they stayed and hid me.” Syra saw the starry eyed gaze of Lia and chuckled.

She is so in love with the idea of love and romance. I am so tired… I know Lia will want to hear every detail though…

“That is so sweet! They could have left you alone to be found, but stayed and hid you?” Lia giggled and kicked her legs into the air.

“Icar even told me to blame them if we were discovered.” Syra yawned and felt her eyes sting from exhaustion.

“They were willing to sacrifice themself for you? Her Majesty could have easily had them imprisoned.” Hestia questioned moving closer to hear the details of the night so she stood in front of the two on the bed.

“Yes! Then I heard Duke Eclipse tell the guards he must have misheard and got them to leave the tower. He then warned me by whispering through the crack in the door to run back here once he got the guards far enough away.” Syra laughed at the two astonished faces looking back at her. 

“Duke Eclipse was the one who summoned the guards?!” Lia’s eyes were wide as she asked.

“Yes, but I did as he said and began to try to sneak through the castle. Then I saw a maid and was trying to figure out a place to hide when suddenly someone grabbed me from behind and dragged me into a room.” Hestia and Lia gasped.

“Who dared to do such a thing to you?” Lia asked, her face slowly turning red with anger.

“Duke Eclipse had dragged me into a room to help me hide. He apologized for his rough manner…” Syra blushed as the memories went through her head.

“I should hope so” Lia huffed.

“And then we talked for a moment before he led the guards away again so I could run here.”

“He could have caused a scandal if the guards had seen you and Icar together alone like that!” Hestia looked pale.

“But, he chose not to. He helped me to prevent a scandal twice tonight. He then offered to help me out of my engagement to Aurelian.” Syra blushed slightly remembering how Duke Eclipse caught her and how good he smelled up close like that. A familiar smokey smell of dragons, but with a rich smell of the forest underneath.

“Oh? And how did he propose to do that?” Lia asked incredulously.

“I, well… he did not say specifically? He just offered his help, if I need it.” Syra’s voice trailed off as she began to hear yelling through the halls.